Follow My Lead
by DreamEscape16
Summary: Steve has always been the leader on their missions, but this time he's following her. Romangers' mall escalator one shot.


**Follow My Lead**

**All characters belong to Marvel Comics**

**I own nothing.**

* * *

"You know, Rogers, you do look like a dork." Natasha said in a low voice, and curved her full pink lips into a roguish smirk. She pulled on her black striped hood, zipped her sweater up, and stared at him, the living legend, and the American golden boy: Captain Steven Grant Rogers. Her grayish-green eyes glistened as the afternoon sunlight caressed over them.

Steve stood with a pliant stance in front of the entrance doors, adjusting his baseball cap over his short golden locks. He shook his head, smirking with a quirky expression at his reflection. He had the visage of an off game hockey player- tattered brown jacket fitted over the broad span of his shoulders, dark blue sweater with a hood, and a t-shirt with a design printed in the center. His dark jeans fitted nicely at his slender hips, and he wore large black sneakers with an light blue design on the sides.

Natasha quickly raked her eyes over the indents of his chiseled pectorals and hard, smooth muscles were still pronounced underneath his layers of clothing. To complete his causal disguise for going full incognito and off the radar, Steve pulled on a pair of black thick framed glasses shielding over his crystal blue eyes.

"Nat, can you stop with the childish words," he lightly chastised, but she watched his soft lips fasten into a rigid grimace. He was uncomfortable with the whole situation of SHIELD targeting them has wanted fugitives. He was good at reading people, and his chivalrous, righteous mortals prevented him from trusting the wrong people. Everyone was a victim of deception. "Look, let's get the information we need and clear out." he grounded out, with his firm, authorial voice. She rolled her eyes at his tone, and placed her hand gently on his tensed shoulder. His powerful muscles flexed underneath her fingertips. "We go in, use the USB drive and triangulate the location we need. No distractions."

Natasha breathed out a vexed sigh, "And here I wanted to help you shop for new clothes-for your date life."

Steve cocked an eyebrow. "I'm not worrying about taking some dame." She gave him a hard look. "Sorry...I mean girl out of coffee. I need to figure out what's happening and how to stop it." he replied, an edge was creeping up his throat.

He stepped inches from her, as the automatic doors opened into his face, almost hitting his pointed nose, Natasha released a little chuckle of amusement, twirling a red strand of her long hair around her index finger, and rubbing her lips together as she did so. Her light rose shaded lips quirked into a hint of grin. The hue of her eyes lightened with the laughter she wasn't releasing after he gave her a piercing look. "What?" he asked, with an irked tone.

"You dress up like a dork and now you're acting like one." Natasha said, gesturing a hand vaguely to the entrance door. "I think you do need those glasses. Besides women love men who look intelligent." she pressed, and then sauntered passed him, her sneakers dragged over the carpet. "Let's roll, Rogers. While we're still young."

Steve opened his mouth to protest, but instead he bit hard on his lower lips and followed her inside. His nose cringed at the haze of perfume invaded his nostrils; he coughed lightly and walked casually beside her. He turned his head, glancing sharply over his shoulder. "We're being followed, Nat." He whispered lowly. "They're around, and watching our move. I think our disguises didn't fool them." He allowed his blue eyes to drift over the all the shops and food courts. "If we run, they'll chase us..."

Natasha said, keeping her eyes straight as she kept on walking. "We're ahead of the game, Steve. Just act natural and follow my lead."

He tore his eyes away from a crowd, and looked dead on at clothing store. "Have you been on the run a lot?" he asked, a simple question, in one short breath.

"More times than I can count." she replied, lifting her gaze up and stared at the escalator. "We need to find a store, and pretend we're shopping. Walking isn't going to fool them..."

Steve gave her a curt of a slow nod, "Is there any store that has what we need? These shoes are going to fall off."

"Relax, Rogers." she said. « We're almost there. »

Steve sensed her frustration. "You're sure this will work. This is new advanced technology—with implanted codes and other stuff that I have no idea what to call…" he froze in mid-sentence, and pressed one foot on the steel grated step of the eslcatlor. Natasha stood at his side; she twisted around, barely touching his chest. He slightly blanched, his blue eyes widened as he met her stare.

'You don't get out much, do you?"

"No, not really," he admitted.

Natasha adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Do you trust me, Rogers?" she asked, conviction settled in her voice.

"Of course I trust you, Nat. You're my partner." His voice was laced with uncertainly, but his deep blue eyes shimmered with trust. "You're all I have left—" he spoke with a tone of sincerity, like he always did with her. She stared deeply into is eyes, shifting her questioning green eyes slightly, she was searching for doubt and a reason why he stood by her side, despite everything that had been compromised around them. She drew out a silent, compressed breath and watched his gaze dip slowly to her hand. "It seems like I'm putting my life and freedom into your hands, Natasha."

She felt her heart throb in her chest; traitorous lips grow suddenly moist with anticipation. In those moments when they were being elevated, she reached a hand and lightly run her fingers over the freckles on the right side of his jaw. She felt less hollow, and more real than she had ever been, he breathed life back into her, give her a chance of redemption, and gave her a reason to trust in him. Steve enveloped his hand over her wrist, she breathed slowly as they caught the other's promise in their locked eyes. His face tensed, and became serious and guarded. It was almost like he saw something beyond her stare. "Is that a good thing?" she finally asked, her voice slightly darkened by her past. "Trusting someone with your life isn't always the best option for surviving, Rogers. Sometimes our friends can become our worse enemies if the trust in each other is broken." She flicked her eyes down, and swallowed down a knot of remorse.

Steve kept himself in momentary silence at her words; he placed his large hand on her shoulder. "Let's focus on the mission, Nat. We need to have trust in each other. You know I will be right at your side—I will not leave you." He promised as the blue depth of his eyes gleamed with genuine assurance. "I need to know that you're with me?" he asked softly. "I need to know that you're still my partner?"

Natasha rubbed her tight lips together; she pulled out the jpeg with the symbol of SHIELD engraved on the silver metal. "I'm still your partner, Rogers." She caressed his strong jaw line with a gentle touch, and then run the pad of her thumb over his full bottom lip. That's never going to change." She lightly smiled, and turned around as they stepped off the escalator, and advanced towards an electronic store. "They have PC's that we can use to plug the device into and crack the codes for the location we need. It won't take long."

Steve nodded, and followed her inside. They hasted to a group of laptops, she quickly plugged in the drive into the side, and kept her green eyes leveled on screen. He scanned the area sharply through his glasses lenses, his face was neutral, lips straight and clear blue eyes focused on the store's entrance. "How long will it take you to crack the security codes?" he whispered, and never took his eyes off the entrance.

'Relax," she breathed, pressing her fingers lightly on the keyboard, as a screen with a bar scanner popped up. "We're dealing with technology of a high-leveled genius intellect. The codes are secured by passwords but also with a different interface. I'm used to data mining ghost files but this is very advanced." She said, feeling the heat of his tall frame radiate through her body. 'Lucky for us, I know how to break every code in a system. This will only take roughly around three minutes."

"Okay," Steve said, moving to the other side of the desk. His blue eyes drifted to all the points of the store. "They will apprehend us outside—we need to move out of here…"

"Are you always this edgy in public?" she asked, entering a code, and scanning her eyes over files. "It's not like the rogue agents have a red marker on your dorky face. Calm down, and let me finish this, Rogers."

Steve stiffened his lips; his muscles coiled with dread underneath the layers of his clothing, his set his jaw down, and felt his fingers become clammy. He was rigid, uncomfortable, and severely alert with his bearings. He tensed at a presence of an employer, walking closer to him. He snapped his head around, and stared at a shorter man with long blonde hair, and a beard wearing a blue uniform. After doing small talk, and pretending that him and Natasha were engaged and headed to New Jersey for their honeymoon, when he felt her toned arms enclose over his muscular shoulders, he just looked at her, with a searing gaze of unexpected hunger. His body temperature increased a few degrees, and heart thudding wildly against his rib cage.

"Got it," Natasha said, ejecting out the device. Steve withdrew sheepishly away from her, distancing himself, and then followed her out of the store. A few agents were surveying the levels and Brock Rumlow was heading up the escalator. He was armed with an automatic pistol strapped to his waist, and the unbreakable, magnetic handcuffs. She kept herself close to Steve, and moved down the escalator, her eyes focused on Rumlow. She turned around and stared softly at the super-soldier. 'Kiss me." She said, so firm, smooth, and against his will.

"What?" he asked in a breathless gasp, bewilderment creeping up his throat. She leaned in closer, making him feel the soft swells of her breasts against his iron-like pectorals. His ears fuzzed as she explained the reason to him, he was focusing on her plump lips, the color of a pale winter rose, he responded to her beckoning mouth, heat consumed his veins to the point that he felt feverish, entrapped in a state of fervid delirium, and he was becoming a hot and sweaty mess.

His instincts guided him towards her, he tilted his head slightly, and her hands caressed the sides of his chiseled face and without any hesitation, and he followed her lead. He leaned forward and brushed his warmth of his lips across hers, and she pulled in closer, reaching for him as if her freedom depended on this one moment unfolding around them.

Steve claimed her lips with a hard, searing kiss of intimate thirst. He closed his eyes, and felt her lips move underneath the wet heat of his urging mouth, his hands became idle, and grasped the curves of her hips gently, and collided his chest against her breasts. He refused to open his eyes, he just wanted to taste, relish, and surrendered himself fully to her devouring lips. She put her hands lightly around his broad neck; his skin was burning under her touch. Through the light material of his grey shirt, she felt his rippling muscles flame with scorching heat. She felt her body ache; she jostled as the hollow emptiness inside of her became filled with desire. She shared his breath, and held onto him for a long moment until the danger passed and the doubt ebbed away. They broke away, with a gentle popping sound of their mouths departing, and she didn't look at him.

When Natasha turned around, and gaze at him with her beautiful light jade colored eyes, she whispered in almost a breath. "Just follow me, Rogers." she ordered, and descended down the moving steps.

Steve licked the smeared corners of his torrid mouth, savoring the lingering flavor of her lips, and transfixed his bleary blue eyes in focus on her long strands of scarlet.

"Lead the way, Romanoff." He smirk warmly, she twisted on her heels and mirrored his expression with a simple smile. They looked at the other with trust welled in their eyes, and she led him through the crowds of shoppers. He felt a little ease flow in his veins, and the warm of her lips embedded over his mouth, kept his heart beat steady.

That's what they both needed- steadiness.


End file.
